This is Sampson, my buddy's dog (in my truck with the ducks he retrieved). We went duck hunting last weekend. We were wading around before daylight in the swamp talking about how he has aged. "Maybe he just doesn't have the drive that used to have" Someone said.
Aprox 9 am Saturday Morning
A small group of ducks comes over. They flare at the last second because they have been shot at over decoys from Canada all the way here. We hit the calls. They turn back and flare again. One more time and they come in. Not low and landing but flying by.
We shoot.
One falls. One flares, and one is racing down the water to get away. I take a good bead on him and pull the trigger. He drops a little but sails on down to the end of the small lake we are on.
The dog retrieves the downed duck and I left to go chase down the one that may have landed on the other end of the lake. It is at this time that my other buddy falls into the water, dropping his gun into the foot deep muck at the bottom. This may not seem that funny to you. But the water wasn’t that deep. He was safe but making funny noises as he attempted to stand up.
Upon retrieving the duck, Sampson takes off after me. I am almost to the end of lake when Sampson gets there. He moves in to the water and starts towards some reeds.
He is making a lot of splashing sound when a duck suddenly jumps up from in front of me and attempts to get away. I blasted him and he fell. Sampson is still jumping around on the other side of the reeds.
“Here is the duck, you stupid dog. Come get it.” Sampson is still jumping around in the reeds and I can barely see him but I can hear all the commotion he is making. I figured that the duck landed over there and had swam out. I figured that Sampson was just smelling him on the water and running around looking for him.
So I start towards the downed duck and am about to pick him up when Sampson scares the duck that I first shot out of cover of the reeds and he his hurt so he only flies a few feet and sets down.
I prepare to fire on him but at that instant Sampson comes over the top of the reeds and is too close for me to fire. The duck makes one quick powerful stroke with his wings that lift him 3 feet off the water. He is about to fly away when Sampson leaps into the air and catches the duck in his mouth.
Awesome!
My dad always taught me to not waste game. And there is even state law that says that hunters must make reasonable efforts to bring into their possession downed game.
(For you city folks Game being a dead animal)
That duck was wounded and would have flown and short distance to the river and died. Sampson took care of that.
We shoot.
One falls. One flares, and one is racing down the water to get away. I take a good bead on him and pull the trigger. He drops a little but sails on down to the end of the small lake we are on.
The dog retrieves the downed duck and I left to go chase down the one that may have landed on the other end of the lake. It is at this time that my other buddy falls into the water, dropping his gun into the foot deep muck at the bottom. This may not seem that funny to you. But the water wasn’t that deep. He was safe but making funny noises as he attempted to stand up.
Upon retrieving the duck, Sampson takes off after me. I am almost to the end of lake when Sampson gets there. He moves in to the water and starts towards some reeds.
He is making a lot of splashing sound when a duck suddenly jumps up from in front of me and attempts to get away. I blasted him and he fell. Sampson is still jumping around on the other side of the reeds.
“Here is the duck, you stupid dog. Come get it.” Sampson is still jumping around in the reeds and I can barely see him but I can hear all the commotion he is making. I figured that the duck landed over there and had swam out. I figured that Sampson was just smelling him on the water and running around looking for him.
So I start towards the downed duck and am about to pick him up when Sampson scares the duck that I first shot out of cover of the reeds and he his hurt so he only flies a few feet and sets down.
I prepare to fire on him but at that instant Sampson comes over the top of the reeds and is too close for me to fire. The duck makes one quick powerful stroke with his wings that lift him 3 feet off the water. He is about to fly away when Sampson leaps into the air and catches the duck in his mouth.
Awesome!
My dad always taught me to not waste game. And there is even state law that says that hunters must make reasonable efforts to bring into their possession downed game.
(For you city folks Game being a dead animal)
That duck was wounded and would have flown and short distance to the river and died. Sampson took care of that.
I guess the point of this story, even if you are not a fan of duck hunting or even hunting in general –
Is this – Expectations are never correct. When you expect something to be great, it almost never is. When you expect little and something exceeds your expectations you are surprised. Either way, your expectations usually have little to so with the real outcome of events.
Some things just have a built in desire to do certain things. Retrievers retrieve. That is the way God made them.
I have a desire to be better than I am. I just hope that my expectations are somewhat close to the real outcome
Is this – Expectations are never correct. When you expect something to be great, it almost never is. When you expect little and something exceeds your expectations you are surprised. Either way, your expectations usually have little to so with the real outcome of events.
Some things just have a built in desire to do certain things. Retrievers retrieve. That is the way God made them.
I have a desire to be better than I am. I just hope that my expectations are somewhat close to the real outcome
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